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Podcast Episode

Professor Linda Mayes: The Relationship That Changes Everything for Children and Parents

Best Beginnings··5 October 2026·41 min

About this episode

Professor Linda Mayes, Director of the Yale Child Study Center, joins George to explore what it really takes to change a child's story. They discuss the neuroscience of parenting, why stress overwhelms the reward of caring for a baby, how addiction co-opts the brain's reward system, and what the Minding the Baby intervention has shown about the limits and possibilities of early support. Linda also shares what decades of longitudinal research have taught her about the one thing she would bet a fortune on for every child.